


Driving Lessons

by orphan_account



Series: Stuck Inside in 2020 Works of Boredom [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Earth-27 (Fandom Page), Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Batfamily (DCU), Driving Lessons, No romo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23621977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Stephanie Brown has a learners drivers licence. Jason Todd knows how to drive. Terry McGinnis is along for the crazy ride.I have driving anxiety, having just recently gotten my learners licence. And am kind of freaking out every time I get on the road, so I wrote this after I got back home, after learning, oh, that's not how you shoulder check. Good job me.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Terry McGinnis, Stephanie Brown & Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown & Terry McGinnis
Series: Stuck Inside in 2020 Works of Boredom [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1684453
Kudos: 47





	Driving Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> Keke Palmer - We Are (Family)

"Steph!"

Stephanie's head shot up, and she scrambled to her feet, heading outside of the guest room. She'd been staying at Jason's main safe house a lot more often than she'd used to, although it was less of a secret safe house and more of an apartment with an insane amount of security.

Stephanie headed out of the short hallway, into the main room. Jason was at the counter, making sandwiches, while Terry was at the table, typing on his computer, sometimes checking things in his notebook. Jason looked up as she came in. "Hey, want some lunch?'

"I don't get why everyone says you're an asshole." Stephanie said, nodding and heading over to him. "You're actually kind of nice."

Jason snorted. "Don't let Tim hear you say that. And besides, your mom's an addict. I can relate."

"Dad's a super-villain, don't forget that." Stephanie added, grinning at him. He laughed.

"Can't match that. Do you want bacon?"

"Too salty." she said. "I'm trying to cut back on that, hope it helps my headaches."

"Fair point. Cheese has a lot of salt too, you want any of that?"

"A bit."

She picked out the rest of her toppings, and Jason put together a sub for her, presenting it far too dramatically. "My lady."

She laughed, taking it from him, giving a small curtsy. "Well done, sir Jason."

Terry snickered from his spot at the table, where his sub was half-eaten. Jason threw a bit of lettuce at the boy, who picked it out of his hair and ate it. Jason rolled his eyes and started to clean up, before he sat down with his own sub, looking at Stephanie with an odd expression. Stephanie glanced away, uncomfortable with being looked at while she ate.

"Don't you have a licence?" Jason asked, the question catching Stephanie off guard. She stared at him for a moment, chewed, swallowed, then replied.

"For what?"

"A driver's licence, you idiot, what did you think? Permit to carry a firearm?"

"Do you have one of those?"

"Yeah. And a drivers. You're fifteen, don't you have one?"

"A learners." Stephanie admitted. "My dad was supposed to teach me to drive, but… you know, he's in jail."

"Do you want to learn from him?" Terry asked, finishing his sub. "I mean, super-villain."

"Not sure about the super." Jason muttered. "Villain, yes."

"I mean… he's still my dad." Stephanie said, looking down at her sub. She picked one of the black olive slices out of it, and swallowed it whole. "You know?"

Jason made a face. "Yeah. Parents are like that. Get their claws in and you can never forget about it. I was going to ask if you wanted to go driving."

"I've driven cars twice." Stephanie muttered. "Once, which went badly, because the plan was to blow it up anyways, and the second time was when we were trying to get to the manor. Dick made me drive so he could start working on Carrie's injuries."

"Dick's a crap teacher." Jason said. "I'd know, he taught me. He's kind of a daredevil at the wheel, kept forgetting shoulder checks. I follow the law."

Stephanie snorted. "I mean… I have my licence on me."

"Why?" Terry asked, looking up from his computer, pausing in his reading.

"It's an ID card, I try and keep it on me unless I'm -" Stephanie gestured around, trying to communicate her point. "you know. Night job."

"I love how we're paranoid enough that even in a safe house we don't mention it." Terry said. "Really speaks about our life choices, doesn't it?"

"You'll be driving soon too." Stephanie pointed out. "You'll be fourteen in what? Seven months? Eight?"

"January."

"Ah."

"Might as well learn now." Jason said, shrugging and finishing his lunch off. He stood up, starting to clear the table. "In case you need to. It's better to have some experience then be thrown right in in a life and death situation. Although the Arrow's have a weird way of learning how to drive. Laurel was not pleased when she found out Thea was learning how to drag race instead of actually drive."

Stephanie choked. "She what?"

"Yeah, Roy earned money like that on the side. Was pretty good. Thea's a good driver, she's beaten him. But Laurel broke up the races, they ended up going to Coast City for them instead." Jason rolled his eyes. "I tried once, won. Don't suggest it. Drifting is more fun, if you ask me."

"We're going to go driving then?" Terry asked. Jason pointed at him, expression serious for once.

"You better be finished with your work first."

"Why? Not like you finished school!"

"I have a Canadian degree. And a Canadian drivers licence that I can use since I'm still technically dead, but that's besides the point. I still got my education, if only so I could rub it in B's face."

"Besides, you're doing English." Stephanie said, leaning over Terry's shoulder to check his screen. "Jason's favorite."

"Yep." Jason agreed. "You almost done?"

"Yeah, just trying to make up some random crap to make it look like I know what I'm doing."

"That's how I passed!" Stephanie cried out happily, looking far too cheerfully about that fact. "I barely passed the finals, but my term marks were high enough that it didn't matter!"

"Alright." Jason stood up, starting to clear up the room, as Stephanie took another bite of her sub. "You can finish that later, we'll head out of town. If you want to, we can drift, because Terr did perk up at that."

"What's drifting?"

"Oh, you poor thing." Jason sighed, ruffling the boy's hair. "Go get ready, we'll leave in a few."

* * *

"Wait, I'm driving?" Stephanie called out, as she caught the keys. Jason shrugged, opening the passenger's seat.

"Might as well. That's what we're here for, no?"

Terry, already in the middle seat in the back, was strapped in with three belts. The one from the ceiling that was for the middle seat, the one for the left side, and the one for the right side. Stephanie glanced at him as she took her own set. "You don't trust me?"

"On the streets? Totally. In a car? Nope."

"That's fair."

"That's for the signal." Jason said, leaning over and tapping a lever on Stephanie's right. "Up for right, down for left. Left pedal is brake, the right is gas. Hands here and here. Got it?"

"Yeah." Stephanie breathed, letting out a tense sigh. "Got it."

"Relax, you look terrified."

"I am terrified!"

"Well, fake it 'till you make it, you know? Okay, start the car."

Stephanie managed to start the car without blowing anything up, while Jason buckled himself in. "'Kay. Seat belt on?"

"Shit." Stephanie muttered, fumbling with it. She managed to click it in place, and gripped the wheel again, knuckles turning white. "Now what?"

"Don't press down hard." Jason warned. "Just gently. But first, shoulder check, use the mirror."

"This is a different car then the one I drove." Stephanie muttered. "The setups are different."

"The Batmobile is a drift car." Jason explained. "It had a different way to do things. It's made for crazy shit, but Dick's probably better suited to teaching you that. I learned how to drift from Sara. She taught me this way, so that's what you're learning."

"We're _not_ drifting today."

"Okay." Jason smiled, and the slightly manic-like expression underneath went unnoticed by the blond. Not by Terry, however, who muttered to himself.

"Oh, this is a bad idea."

"You can get out."

"Better than English. If I die, I don't have to turn that in, right?"

"Yeah." Jason promised. "I'll explain it to your teacher. So, push down on the brake. Gently, you don't need to go hard. And move the stick down to D. Which stands for drive."

"I knew that." Stephanie muttered, obeying. She looked up at Jason. "Now what?"

"Check for traffic. Anything?"

"Uh, no."

"Good. Signal left, and pull out. We'll just head straight."

Stephanie stared at the mirror, trying to orient herself. After a minute, she did, and swallowed, switching pedals. "Same foot for both pedals?"

"Yeah, yeah. Left foot doesn't do anything. Ready?"

Slowly, like a turtle coming out of its shell, Stephanie pulled out. Jason lived in a quiet part of Gotham, near the edge of town. There were only a few cars parked on the road, and only one or two people walking around. Stephanie aligned herself into the road, creeping along.

"Bit faster."

They speed forwards, and Stephanie pulled her foot off the pedal instantly, slamming down on the brake. They jerked at the sudden stop, all of them lurching. Stephanie panted with the adrenaline, and Terry made a small noise in the back.

"So this is how Dick felt teaching me." Jason muttered, shaking his head to clear it, although he didn't seem all that bothered by Stephanie's error. "Yeah, that's what everyone seems to do. Gentle on the pedals. A little can go a long way. Got it?"

"Yeah. Stephanie murmured, starting to move the car again. They went smoother, and she let out a soft sigh filled with tension. She adjusted her grip on the wheel, eyes scanning the road. "Where are we going?"

"Straight."

"That dog is freaking me the fuck out." Stephanie muttered, eyes on a golden retriever that was being walked along the crosswalk. It was leaning towards them, straining against the leash. "I really _don't_ want to kill it."

Terry let out a snort, and Jason sighed. "Signal right. Slow down, hover over the brake. And stop. Good."

They lurched at the end, and Terry muttered something to himself. Jason ignored him, in favor of speaking to Stephanie. "We're lurching when you brake because… you're hitting it too fast, is the best way I can describe it. On the test, did you get a question about how to brake?"

"Yeah, but I don't remember what it said."

"Try and go smoother." Jason advised. "You're signalling, check for traffic. Anything?"

"No."

"Okay, turn. Ignore the signal, it'll reset on its own. There. Good. Get in the right lance, watch for that car. Good."

"This if fucking scary." Stephanie muttered, knuckles white on the wheel. "Holy shit, this is why B doesn't let us drive, who else has anxiety?"

"Me." Terry squeaked. "Very much so, can we please not die?"

"Shush, you're distracting me." Stephanie hissed. Slowly, with several jolts and mini freak outs, they made it out of town, heading onto a road, into the county. Stephanie slowly started to relax once there was nothing around for her to run into, and Jason turned on the radio, keeping the volume low. They tuned into some country station, and Jason started to hum along with at least ninety percent of the songs. Terry started to play I Spy with himself. Stephanie's heart rate slowed to normal.

Jason sat up, and pointed to a run down church, with a dirt parking lot. "Pull in there. You look like you need a break."

Stephanie managed to do so without crashing into any of the trees that shaded the lot, or ending up in the ditch, and Jason guided her in parking. They backed up into a theoretical parking spot, and Stephanie put them in park.

"Ah." Stephanie looked at Jason nervously. "Can you drive us back?"

"Yeah, sure, let's switch."

The two of them changed positions, and Terry swallowed nervously, looking around for anything to anchor himself too. Finding nothing within reach, he accepted his fate and sat in his seat silently.

Jason started the car far faster then Stephanie had, and pulled out seamlessly, onto the road. Stephanie glanced around them from her seat. "Don't we have to go the other way?"

"Yeah, but I thought we could go see Thea and Roy." Jason said, nonchalantly. "I texted them earlier."

"During my driving lessons?"

"Take it as a complement, I felt safe enough _to_ text."

"Oh stars." Stephanie sighed, sagging in her seat. Her hands were trembling with the adrenaline from her fear. "Why is this so terrifying?"

"Eh." Jason shrugged, adjusting the mirror. "Might as well launch you into it."

"Into what?"

"You'll see."

Jason wasn't nearly as slow as Stephanie, when it came to driving. Then again, he was twenty and had been driving since he was fourteen, which was younger then when Stephanie got her learners. He took them up north, heading to Star City, and they ended up heading along a hilly road, with lots of twists and turns. The station they were listening to fizzed out, and he switched it to some Star City one.

"Ready?"

"For what?"

"This."

With that, Jason sped up, sending them all back in their seats from the force of the acceleration. Stephanie cried out, grabbing onto the handle on the ceiling with both hands. Jason laughed at her reaction, and then twisted the wheel, hard, and they started to drift around the corner at an insane speed.

"Jason!" Stephanie screeched, leaning back in her seat. "Todd! What! The hell! Are you doing!"

Jason let out a laugh, and they switched directions, going around another corner, the other way. The car slid along the road, leaving tire marks, and in the back seat, Terry, who was known for never cursing, had broken his streak, with a stream of expletives. Once he ran out of regular curse words, he switched into more creative ones.

"Bitchass motherfucking tree bastard!" he screamed, holding onto the seat belts with his hands, eyes wide. "What the fucking fuck unicorn fucking olive tree!"

Jason, to his credit, ignored both his siblings, as they drifted, then switched back to a normal driving position, going straight down the hill. Stephanie screamed.

"Jason!"

They went down, then almost right up, and around a corner. Jason made them drift again, and Stephanie slammed her eyes shut. "For the love of! Why did I agree to this! This isn't helping my anxiety Jason Todd! Stop right now!"

After a few minutes, Stephanie accepted her fate, and joined Terry in cursing their brother out. He just laughed, not slowing down, taking turns at breakneck speeds, drifting on the edge of the road, almost going over the edge, but at some point, they found themselves laughing as well. And when Jason finally slowed down, Stephanie was bursting with laughter.

"Holy shit. You are so teaching me that."

"Why else would I show you it?"


End file.
